Kermit Week's projects future status

[OD/NG]

This might be heresy, but rather than some of the more "common types" (F6F, Bf109,B-24, B-29) there are a few others I would really like to see fly. The three I would like to see is the B-26 Marauder, the Kingfisher and the Tempest.

So, I will ask, regarding the B-26.

He restored it to flying condition 20 years ago and had it on the airshow circuit for a season or two (or so it seemed). Then it was parked.

Did something break? Was he uncomfortable in it? Was it more fuel and maintenance intensive than he imagined?

I never understood why he went to the trouble of acquiring it and restoring it, only to retire it.

I don't claim to be an expert on this B-26, but my impression is that it was not really a modern day "restoration" in terms like we like to think. Remember, before Kermit bought it, it was one of the "Million Dollar Valley" B-26's that Tallichet recovered from Canada. I saw it at Tallichet's place in Chino in the early 80's while they were restoring it. I distinctly remember it being a "functional" restoration rather than a pretty award-winning Oshkosh type restoration. I got the impression that it was more of an extensive IRAN than anything else. The initial restoration was entirely done by Tallichet's crew. Kermit bought the aircraft after it was "finished". I also remember that Kermit had the Marauder thoroughly gone through at Aero Trader next door before he took delivery of it to go to Florida.

From people who have posted on here over the years, it sounds like the "restoration/IRAN" or whatever you want to call it, was not adequate for long term airworthiness of the aircraft. Other people have said that it needs a complete re-restoration to be a functional flying airplane for many years of service. Apparently, it still needs a lot of work.

That is my impression, but hopefully someone else closer to the aircraft can fill in the blanks.

[Lon Moer]

About a year ago he did a three part "Kermie Cam" walk through of Vintage V-12's in Tehachapi, and he talked about them working on engines for a couple of Russian twin-engine fighters he was working on.

[JohnB]

I would think any problems with the Vega would be fairly easy to fix (especially since I'm not doing the work of writing the checks).
A friend told me that when the Shell Vega sold, new concrete fuselage molds and some parts were sold for a very nominal sum.
Like the Mosquito, the wood can be replaced.

[Mike]

After all, no less an organization than the RAF museum scrapped its Beverly, leaving only one existent in an outdoor private museum.

Not that old chestnut again!

The Beverley was flown into the RAF station at Hendon (NOT the Museum) where it became a gate guard on the RAF Hendon site (separate from the museum, but alongside it). When the RAF station eventually closed, it was offered to the Museum. It was moved the other side of the fence onto the Museum site, but when the condition was assessed by Museum staff it was decided that it was too far gone to be economically saved, so it was scrapped in situ. It was NOT the RAF Museum that allowed it to deteriorate to the extent that it was no longer viable.

[JohnB]

Chestnut or not, the fact remains, when I first visited the RAFM in 1975, the Beverly was parked alongside the museum and was seen as a museum aircraft (it had museum signage identify it).
There it stayed with no apparent effort to move it indoors.
Eventually, it was scrapped. While the RAFM may not have brought it to Hendon for the expressed purpose of preservation, they sure didn't make any huge efforts to save it.

My point is any aircraft left outdoors in the UK is at risk unless there is ongoing work done to preserve it.
When Weeks bought the Shorts there was little or interest in keeping it in England (the UK aviation preservation scene is different today...It would be very welcome at places like the Solent museum...if they could raise the funds to build a hangar for it) understandable given its size. If he had not bought it, it's fair to assume that it would have remained outdoors and it would likely be gone now.
The RAFM has done a fine job in its new hangar for its Sunderland, but that certainly wasn't cheap and would have been well out of reach for most collections.

[Mike]

Why would the Solent Sky museum want another Sunderland when they already have one? And the RAF Museum's 'new' hangar for their Sunderland has been there for 40 years now!

And I still stick by what I said about the Beverley. Although visible from the museum car park (and it may well have had signage), it was always the other side of the fence on the RAF site. It didn't move onto the Museum site until the RAF station closed and it was then handed over to the Museum. Until then they had no jurisdiction over it. The RAF Museum have made many mistakes over the years, but I do object to the continual beating they receive over the Beverley which, in this instance, is entirely unjustified.

[GRNDP51]

My "problem" with Kermit and Fantasy of Flight has always been the simple fact of what's the point of making 10 new planes airworthy (which he seems to be doing now) if they aren't going to be flying much anyway? I am not well researched in Kermit by any means, but it seems that Kermit flies his planes... and ONLY Kermit flies his planes. What's the last show that any of his planes have been to besides the WWI's at Oshkosh? Being in CA, I could be wrong and maybe he does bring his planes to some shows, but I would personally rather see some of his "airworthy" planes sold to people that don't have 20 of them to fly. Lewis' collection is getting that same vibe from me lately too, what's the use of all the airworthy planes if they aren't ever out of the hangar/going to airshows? Not saying I would rather them NOT be airworthy, but maybe focus on getting some pilots accustomed to your planes so they can actually go places? I realize it may be uncomfortable to have someone else fly your planes, but there are a ton of capable vintage aircraft pilots out there that would love to do it!

[OD/NG]

My "problem" with Kermit and Fantasy of Flight has always been the simple fact of what's the point of making 10 new planes airworthy (which he seems to be doing now) if they aren't going to be flying much anyway? I am not well researched in Kermit by any means, but it seems that Kermit flies his planes... and ONLY Kermit flies his planes. What's the last show that any of his planes have been to besides the WWI's at Oshkosh? Being in CA, I could be wrong and maybe he does bring his planes to some shows, but I would personally rather see some of his "airworthy" planes sold to people that don't have 20 of them to fly. Lewis' collection is getting that same vibe from me lately too, what's the use of all the airworthy planes if they aren't ever out of the hangar/going to airshows? Not saying I would rather them NOT be airworthy, but maybe focus on getting some pilots accustomed to your planes so they can actually go places? I realize it may be uncomfortable to have someone else fly your planes, but there are a ton of capable vintage aircraft pilots out there that would love to do it!

Kermit is definitely the "main" pilot for most of his collection. Other than letting a few of his staff fly the "light" stuff, i.e.- General Aviation type classics, L-birds, Storch, etc., I don't believe anyone else flies his aircraft. I don't have a problem with that, as virtually every aircraft in the collection is personally owned by him and not FoF or the 501(c)(3) entity he created that owns a few more. In his defense, Kermit does fly his aircraft to local shows in Florida. He attends Sun n' Fun every year as well as a few others locally. I have seen his aircraft at Oshkosh over the years as well as the Mustang gathering a ways back.

Regarding Rod Lewis. Yes, he has scaled back his flying operation and completely given up on racing at Reno. That is a shame, but it's not without justification. The main reason this has happened was due to his divorce where he lost over a Billion dollars in the divorce settlement. If you lost a Billion dollars, you too, would have to reassess your "play toys".

I think we should cut them both some slack, as they do a lot of wonderful things behind the scenes in support of this passion we all love. One example, and this is not widely known, for a while before Rod's divorce, he used to subsidize the entire fuel bill for the annual airshow at Chino. How many warbird owners/operators do you know who would do that?

Before we cast aspersions at owners for not doing things the way we want them done, just consider two things: 1) it's their money and they are gracious enough to share their toys with us, the general public, 2) there is often a lot of "behind the scenes" good they are doing which is not publicly known.

My two cents!

[Michel Lemieux]

Also in favor of Mr Weeks defense...there are the license cost themselves.

I am pretty sure he limits the number of active licenses and they are rotated around his aircrafts on a yearly base.

[Mike]

A few years back when I visited him, shortly before he announced the closure of the main FoF facility, he told me that he kept about 10 or a dozen aircraft in Annual at any one time. However at that time he was flying one as the 'Airplane of the Day' each day. I noticed that most of the 'Kermie Cams' he is posting nowadays relate to this period from a few years back. I'm not sure how many he keeps active, and how often they are flown, nowadays - I certainly get the impression that he's mothballed most of the previously-airworthy fleet for the time being.

I was told a few years back that he has so many aircraft out on rebuild because he doesn't have the space or manpower to do then in-house, so he drip-feeds funding to the restorers now and again to keep them ticking along in slow-time so he doesn't have to make space for the aircraft at FoF. That certainly explains why projects like the A-26 and P-51A are taking decades to complete.

With the recent downsizing of his restoration team due to retirements, I guess he's gradually slowing everything down until the much talked-about 'Act Three' comes about. I'm sure that, whatever that might be, it won't be a conventional air museum. In the meantime his collection is safe, largely under cover, in a kind of hibernation. Time will tell what becomes of it.

[Baldeagle]

I would think any problems with the Vega would be fairly easy to fix (especially since I'm not doing the work of writing the checks).
A friend told me that when the Shell Vega sold, new concrete fuselage molds and some parts were sold for a very nominal sum.
Like the Mosquito, the wood can be replaced.

I don't think repairing a Vega fuselage could in any way be classified as easy.
The mold that was sold in PA was a home made wooden male form, the originals were concrete female molds.


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[ZRX61]

This might be heresy, but rather than some of the more "common types" (F6F, Bf109,B-24, B-29) there are a few others I would really like to see fly. The three I would like to see is the B-26 Marauder, the Kingfisher and the Tempest.

The guy who was working on the Tempest just retired, it was all boxed up & put in storage so that project is a never going to fly any time soon. I get the feeling that one day all his stuff will be sold off for pennies on the dollar.

[JohnB]

I don't think repairing a Vega fuselage could in any way be classified as easy.
The mold that was sold in PA was a home made wooden male form, the originals were concrete female molds.
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Easy in as nothing is made of unobtanium.
If they can make new Mosquitos...

[DH82EH]

It took Gjyn Powell over a decade to make his Mosquito molds.

Just sayin'.

[JimH]

Watching his Facebook postings are interesting. He is certainly 'in tune' with his mortal self and looking ahead to the continuing journey. Act III will be his legacy. Over the years he has acquired a lot of really unique airframes that, once he experiences them, they sit. I think the aircraft that he flys regularly are his favorites and the easiest to maintain. The B-24 will never fly again, it is a 10-20 year project, much like the B-26 and a few others. BUT, they are his airplanes and he has done more for warbirds and saving artifacts than I think all of us realize. When you look at just the shipping containers it is astounding, Lancaster, P-47...it goes on and on...then the warehouses of airframes and the engines and the parts. It is overwhelming but amazing at the same time. AND time is his biggest enemy, which I believe is why he shut down FoF to build his ultimate goal. Whether it works or not only time will tell, and it's not up to any of us to judge him for that. He built a facility that he intended to be visited by enthusiasts that want to see living pieces of history, or journey through the history of aviation. His vision and business model did not include airshowing...he, and his facility is a show unto itself. Over the years if you watch his posts, he has shown us that, to him, there is more to life than just airplanes.

Jim
jimh_181030_5bd85a464e049-1600x1071 by jim harley, on Flickr

jimh_181030_5bd85a4524768-1600x1071 by jim harley, on Flickr

jimh_181030_5bd85a448fcc2-1600x1071 by jim harley, on Flickr

jimh_181030_5bd85a4a0ff9b-1600x1071 by jim harley, on Flickr